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by John WrightLast season, Liberty Lake native Tyler Johnson was winning a championship with the Norfolk Admirals (pictured then). This season, he was the leading goal-scorer in the American Hockey League before being called up March 14 to play in the NHL for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

LL native scores first NHL goalTyler Johnson scored one goal and added an assist in the Tampa Bay Lightning's 4-1 victory over the division-leading Carolina Hurricanes March 16. It was the first National Hockey League goal for the Liberty Lake native, who graduated from Central Valley High School and was a four-season standout for the Spokane Chiefs.

Johnson was called up to the NHL on March 14 and had tallied one goal and three assists through his first four games. He had been playing for the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League, where he scored 31 goals and notched 57 points (placing him first and second, respectively, in the AHL).

Johnson, 22, is a 5-foot-9, 182-pound forward. He has posted back-to-back 30-goal seasons in his first two professional seasons in the AHL. In 134 career AHL games, all in the Lightning organization, Johnson has recorded 62 goals and 125 points to go along with plus-47 rating. Johnson was originally signed by the Lightning as a free agent on March 7, 2011.

He skated in 266 Western Hockey League games during four seasons with the Spokane Chiefs from 2007-2011, recording 128 goals and 282 points.

Golfer earns ace at TrailheadTyler Warner scored a hole-in-one on the 131-yard seventh hole at Trailhead Golf Course March 9, Trailhead Head Golf Professional Chris Johnston reported. Warner used a pitching wedge.